NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

[ubersoft]

For an entire day I had Nvidia 3d acellerated graphics working. Then when the latest generic kernel (.13?) was downloaded it stopped working entirely. I'm not really into Compiz or Beryl, but I do like my 3d screensavers...

... was the latest kernel update incomplete in some way? This is seriously confusing me.

[javierrivera]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

Kernel upgrades always break packages than compile their own kernel modules. Like Nvidia drivers or Virtual Machines (VMWare or VirtualBox).

Usually just reinstalling the thing (using whatever method you used) will repair it.

Javier

[ubersoft]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

That's what I thought at first, but it's not working.

Reinstalling the nvidia drivers and restarting x sends me to the Kubuntu loading splash screen and it hangs there forever... I need to edit xorg.conf to use the nv drivers (no 3d support) in order to get the x server to start.

But I know it *used to* work. I would boot up, see the new nvidia splash screen, and I could use the 3d screensavers. It's all very strange.

[javierrivera]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

Uppsss....

Have you tried to look for errors on /var/log/Xorg.0.log and in dmesg?

Maybe there is something instesting there.

Javier.

[dibl]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

I've been beating all morning on my Feisty Beta installation also, with both the ubuntu nvidia-glx driver and back to the nvidia-linux downloaded driver. I think the last update did something evil. There are a lot of reports of trouble with graphics drivers on the Ubuntu Forums too. I think we're suffering "early adopter" issues.

[dibl]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

OK, I think I know what's going on, at least with my box -- not sure if this is the same problem as ubersoft.

They upgraded the new nvidia-glx driver with the latest Nvidia driver, 1.0-9755. There were numerous recommendations on the Ubuntu forum to use that one rather than installing the downloaded driver, and I followed that advice. But, now I have re-learned what I learned once before -- nvidia-glx brings the -386 kernel along with it. My hardware has always worked much better with the -generic kernel. At the moment, it is somewhat confused, because when I installed Feisty Beta on the weekend, I configured everything with the generic kernel running, and now the 386 kernel has been suddenly introduced. :P

So, I assume getting back to the generic kernel, and installing the downloaded Nvidia driver will put my system right again. I hope this helps others.

[dibl]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused -- Confirmed

If your hardware using an Nvidia card runs best with the -generic kernel, then you DO NOT want to install the nvidia-glx driver packages from the repository, because they drag the -386 kernel into your system. And if (after discovering things aren't working so well) you try to install the Nvidia downloaded driver, without having first removed the -386 kernel, you will only make the situation worse.

So the procedure to correct this mess must be:

1. Reboot to your -generic kernel
2. sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, choosing the "VESA" graphics driver
3. Use Adept to remove everything linux-kernel-386, and make sure you have the -generic kernel packages installed for your version
4. Use Adept to remove the nvidia-glx packages
5. Using instructions for Method 2 here:

http://albertomilone.com/latest_nvidia_udsf_edgy.html

Install the Nvidia driver from Nvidia's web site

And you should be back to good graphics.

hth 8)

[ubersoft]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

The driver from Nvidia's site claims my video card is compatible, and I need to use their "legacy driver." Their legacy driver claims it needs to recompile my kernel, tries to do so and fails.

I am using the generic kernel. The 386 kernel is not installed according to adept.

[dibl]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

Their installer is pretty fussy, and I'm no expert on it -- have managed to figure out how to make it work with my Ge 7900GS. Make sure you have the current linux-headers package for your particular kernel, from repositories. The Envy program was a great shortcut through all this, in Edgy, but he hasn't released it for Feisty yet.

If you happen to get through the driver installation successfully, don't forget that you'll need to enable composit and GLX Visuals to get your 3D effects working. That is done in the console with this command:

sudo nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals --composite

At least that how's it is done for my card....

[claydoh]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

Now a question: are you using the stock ubuntu nvidia drivers? if so, try installing the package linux-restricted-modules-2.6.20-13-generic (or 386, whatever kernel you are using). No need for all this other stuff, especially as it was working before the latest kernel update. Sometimes the update misses that package, so try simply installing that and see if it works. Much easier imo

[ubersoft]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

I am going to stop trying to fix this problem.

The nv drivers work, even if I don't have 3d graphics when using them... I will chalk this up as "the dangers of beta testing," wait until the next kernel update, and try again...

[MepisReign]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

OK, my problem was that after the adept-updater installed something (I still don't know what it was) the 3D acceleration was gone and my system without Enemy Territory is not a real system :P . Since my computer have the NVIDIA driver from their website running, this is what I did:

- Ctrl + Alt + F1
- Log in (User and Password)
- Type sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop <--- The screen will hang, just press Ctrl + Alt + F1 again
- Type sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run --uninstall (make sure that you have the Nvidia installer on you Home directory, otherwise this is not going to work)
- Follow the screen instructions
- Once that is finished, type sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run -q
- Follow the screen instructions (just say "yes" to everything)
- Sudo reboot (here you could just press Ctrl + Alt + Backspace, but I would go the "reboot" way)

I have a Geforce 7900 GS, the envy script didn't work for me. That doesn't mean, of course, that is not going to work for you

NOTE: Use this method only if your system has the nvidia driver from their website.

If I have any further issues, I will let you know

Regards,

MepisReign

[shadco]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

I keep hearing that ATI is supposed to be all hosed up with Linux support.

My Fesity on ATI boxes have been fine all along but every other day it's something else with my Nvidia boxen

[ubersoft]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

Shadco, I see the same situation.

I installed Feisty on a machine with an ATI card and it detected the ATI card just fine -- and it supported 3d graphics immediately, straight from the install (or after the first update).

[dibl]

Re: NVIDIA: I admit to being a little confused

Mepis, you do run the -generic or the -386 kernel? Have you ever tried the nividia-glx driver for your GeF 7900GS? I have the same card (PCI), and both times that I attempted to install the nvidia-glx driver from the repos, it changed my kernel to -386. But my X6800 CPU does a lot better with the -generic kernel. I have not seen other reports about this -- it may be just Linux ignorance on my part. Since they put the new 9755 driver version in the nvidia-glx package, I would think that should be the best one, but not when it changes my kernel